March 14, 2007

Sales Teams - Think outside the box! (part I)

The definition of insanity: 'Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result'.

To do different, you got to think different, to think different you got to involve different people that help you see things from a different anlge. Below some results of people helping me think outside the box:

  • Set-up a monthly book-club, choose from a wide aray of books that each bring different sales elements to the team important for that quarter. A link can be found on this BLOG with several titles

  • During the next sales meeting let your best sales folks prepare a presentation as if they are the competitor selling their solution to your sales team being the prospective buyer

  • During the next sales team meeting let your best networker present his/her sales organization, each person he/she is using with the company

  • Take your team to one of the local colleges/universities to sit in on a class or two of psychology

  • Give each of your team members $200 cash, go to a local shopping mall, each has 2 hours to buy personalized customer gifts. Upon return everyone has to talk about 1-2 items they bought and why
A good place to find these new ideas is when you meet people that are from outside the industry!